Our Potion and Cup

'Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance."

(from Psalm 16)

As I sat at the breakfast table this morning enjoying my cup of coffee, I watched two blue birds, several sparrows, a Downey woodpecker, and the usual band of deer make their appearances."

Just as a cup holds what sustains us, I choose the Lord to fill my life with meaning and strength each day."

When I am looking for a closer, more intimate connection, I read from the Psalms because

    “the Lord is my chosen portion and cup”

Some Psalms I read over and over, while others I return to less frequently, but each time I reflect on them, my relationship with the Lord deepens.

For example, Psalm 16 has comforted me during difficult times, reminding me that I am never alone

This has been true for centuries, as the psalms describe the Lords actions in people’s lives, especially in troubled times

While the Psalms offer a vision of fulfillment rooted in spiritual connection, our society often defines the “cup of good life” through material desires and temptations, such as greed and lust.

The Psalms gentle and heartfelt intimacy has encouraged me to trust, even when I feel uncertain or afraid.

The Psalms language—along with the thoughts and emotions guiding the Psalms—fosters a unique sense of closeness, a gentle and heartfelt intimacy that invites us to experience God's presence more deeply

Gradually letting go of material possessions and worldly desires until nothing remains but a connection with God is the fullness of life, the experience of complete joy."

"Many of great saints of the church have found that as they release attachments to material things, their lives become richer in meaning and happiness."

The Psalms tell us that “when the Lord is our chosen cup” God always meets our needs.

Resurrection Moments

 To trap Jesus, the Sadducees who don’t believe in resurrection, asked complicated question about a widow who’d   been married seven times according to Moses Law.

Sadducees ask, “Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

Jesus states they are wrong because they do not know the Scriptures or God's power.

He explains that in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Earthly marriage systems, Jesus says, don’t apply to the resurrected state.

The Sadducees basically asked an uninformed question.

Over the years I preached on the Resurrection that as a Christian you must believe it

 Resurrection is something you conveniently declare during worship.

Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something we completely understand.

Caroline Lewis tells of the time, after a lecture a woman spoke to her saying, “My cup was empty. Today was my road to Emmaus.”

The “empty cup”, I think, refers to believing, declaring, and understanding.

The Road to Emmaus” she referred to, I feel is a story of the beginning of her journey.

It was her experience, her resurrection moment.

Resurrection moments change life.

 Samaritan woman at the well, the healing of the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus, change one from death to life, darkness to light.

Resurrection means encountering Jesus, being called out of darkness, and sharing a meal with him.

When we are experiencing darkness or an “empty cup”, Jesus calls us into the light to walk and dine with him, to have a resurrection moment.